Instagram gives clips 15 seconds of glory

Within hours of the Facebook announcement that Instagram allows users to upload videos lasting up to 15 seconds apiece as a component of the photo-sharing application, Ben McBride posted a clip.

Kevin Joy, The Columbus Dispatch

Within hours of the Facebook announcement that Instagram allows users to upload videos lasting up to 15 seconds apiece as a component of the photo-sharing application, Ben McBride posted a clip.

“You can see my face even longer,” the Grandview Heights resident, 31, said dryly into his smartphone on Thursday night, using the remaining time to pause for humorous effect.

The addition of Instagram video reflects the latest punch in the ongoing battle between social-media titans Facebook and Twitter.

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The 15-second span touted by Facebook, which last year bought Instagram for $1 billion, equals 21/2 times the limit allowed by Vine, a mobile video app recently acquired and popularized by Twitter.

A Vine clip maxes out at six seconds and plays back in a nonstop loop, with users capable of compiling shots to create a multi-shot story or even stop-motion animation.

Chris Stults, assistant curator of film/video at the Wexner Center for the Arts, likened the rudimentary concept to the short films shown on early-1900s nickelodeons — “where you would look at loops or very short attractions.”

The longer Instagram video, he said, “might allow for a little more variation.”

Yet some users view the shorter Vine limit — similar to the 140-character Twitter limit for status updates — as more desirable.

“It forces you to get creative with what you’re saying to the world,” said Mike Beaumont, creative director for Spacejunk Media, a Columbus design and video studio.

On the plus side, Instagram videos are easily doctored — much like photos.

The 15-second period mirrors that of some commercials.Thus, as analysts have speculated, sponsored video content could one day prove profitable for Instagram and Vine.

At the moment, the burgeoning medium remains more silly than strategic.

“They’re not professional $100,000 commercials,” said Joe Giessler, multimedia marketing coordinator for TourismOhio, which uses Vine to tout festivals, exhibits and such.

The Columbus College of Art & Design showcased both staff- and patron-submitted Vine clips of runway looks from its annual student fashion show in May.The school might also post, for example, a Vine of a gallery installation taking shape.